The Blue Tattoo
by Silveriolu
Summary: After arriving in Liore, Ed finds a familiar tattoo on his cheek and freaks out. He's not the only one though, as six other people around Amestris are faced with the same problem. Then they found these special powers... From FMAB.
1. Diligence

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything from the FMA/FMAB series, including the characters. If somebody says that I do, don't believe them, believe in the me that believes in you!**

**Oh and I don't own that quote from Gurren Lagann either.**

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**A random hotel, Liore 12:43AM**

"Br..er..."

Zzz...

"Brother!"

"Huh?" Edward opened his eyes groggily. Then yawned, "What is it, Al?"  
"What happened to your face!"  
"WHAT?" Ed sat up frowned at Alphonse, who was at the side of his bed with a worried look in his eyes. Ed swore that Al was pulling a prank. "That's not a very nice way to wake someone up, Al," Ed looked at the clock, "-and ESPECIALLY AT 12'O CLOCK MIDNIGHT!"  
"But I'm not lying, just look in the mirror!" Deciding to go along with it since he was too tired, Ed walked over to the bathroom and turned on the light. He had a slight heart attack for a millisecond then turned back around.

"VERY funny, Al!"  
"I didn't do anything, promise!" Al squeaked back.  
"The only person here who would find drawing an ouroboros tattoo on me funny would be you!" Edward glared at the tattoo on his cheek, then looked at it closer. On further inspection he realised he realised that the dragon was now some kind of bird, there was a circle in the centre instead of a triangle. The tattoo was even drawn in blue ink. "If you were trying to trick me you could have at least drawn it in red!"  
"But I DIDN'T do it! We don't even have any ink with us!"

Ed was about to retort when he realised that Al was right (they ran out yesterday) and there was nobody here should know about the homunculus. "Wait, so... who did this then? Al, you didn't see anyone did you?"  
"No, but there was blue alchemical light surrounding you for split second, then I woke you up." Ed's eyes widened before he tried to rub the tattoo off his cheek, but it didn't fade away or smudge. '_I can't be one of those guys, can I?'_ This didn't make any sense.  
"This doesn't make any sense! There isn't a philosopher stone here that can do this!"  
"That's why I woke you up, brother." Ed gave up trying to rub it off and turned back around.

"So... do you think I'm a homunculus now or something?" Ed carefully asked. "I hope not, that doesn't look like an ouroboros tattoo anyway." Al sighed even though he didn't really need to, "Its unfamiliar to me."  
"Same here." Ed pressed his hand to the tattoo absentmindedly, when suddenly a sharp, ringing voice sounded in his head and his body felt numb.

_Diligence._

"Brother!"

Al's worried voice faded away as Ed blacked out.

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**This occurs a few months before the Promise Day, so we have PLENTY of time for some fun!  
********  
Most of the people will be in their usual cities/towns instead of Central or up North in Briggs. The final battle isn't starting right away~****  
**

**This will pretty much be a whole bunch of short chapters, so stay tuned for more!**

**Ed: WHO'RE YOU CALLING SHORT?!**


	2. The two yellow flowers

**Disclaimer: I don't own ANY of the FMA/B series. Do I look that much like Hiromu Arakawa to you?  
**

**a Mysterious Illusion: Thanks for reviewing, here's another update right away!  
**

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**The Huges House, East City 9:15AM**

Gracia Huges smiled softly as she watched Elicia play in the backyard. Winter was melting away into spring, which meant that it was almost time for spring cleaning. She still remembered Maes and Elicia helping her last year, when their family was still together in the flesh. Of course, she still greatly missed her husband every day. Gracia took a sip of her tea, then put it back down when Elicia ran up to her.

"Mummy?" The almost-five year old looked up at her.

"What is it, sweetie?"

"Can little and big brother come visit soon?" Gracia didn't know what to say to that.

"...Yes, but right now they're not here."

"But where are they?" Gracia settled Elicia down on her lap.

"Well, last time they called us they were in Liore." That was only yesterday, so they were probably still there.

"Call them, call them!" Elicia shouted, bouncing up and down on her lap. "Elicia... why do you want to see them anyway?" Gracia asked, her daughter usually didn't ask for people to come over.

"This!" Elicia held up two slightly crumpled yellow flowers in her hand. Gracia smiled gently, "I'll call them, but they might not be able to come right away." Elicia had already jumped off her lap though and was hopping up and down. "They're coming! They're coming!"

"When did she become so energetic..." Gracia muttered as she put the tea away.

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**The same random hotel as before, Liore 9:19AM**

At first, there were sounds. Muffled bits and blobs that kept fading away then coming back. The numbness had stopped now, and the ringing voice had silenced. Ed frowned inwardly. What happened? All he remembered was waking up late at night with Al and then... the tattoo. He had touched it and heard a strange voice say something. '_What was again? ...Diligence?'_

Whatever it was, it was somehow the cause of all this madness. Then Ed heard a voice break through the darkness.

"Co... on... ake up!" _'Al?' _The voice was getting clearer.

"Broth... ou better wak... p!" Why? All Ed wanted to do was sleep...

...

"I know you can hear me, Ed!"

Then he was back. Ed seemed to crash back into reality as his eyes cracked open and energy was restored to his body. Too much energy. He gasped sharply as he sat up. Adrenaline rushed through his blood. Where am I? '_My bed? A nightmare?' _His flesh hand brushed the tattoo almost instantly and his eyes widened when he felt the word 'Diligence' faintly echo in his mind again. Only this time he didn't black out.

Ed quickly turned to the relieved Al. "How long have I been out?"  
"Only a couple of hours." Was his reply.  
"A COUPLE?! Al, we're supposed to catch the train to East City at 8:30!" Ed pointed to the white clock in the middle of the room that blatantly read 9:20.

Oh wait no it's 9:21 now, sorry.

Al sweatdropped, "Oops..." He had forgotten with Ed being unconscious and all. Ed grumbled something about the Colonel under his breath as he grabbed the timetable off a nearby desk. He set it on the floor in front of them. "Okay, it looks like the next train leaves at 4:00 so we'll have to take that one." Ed pointed to a completely random spot on the timetable.

"I completely agree with you, brother." Al nodded happily.

Now all they had to do was wait 7 hours.

Ed was thinking of what they should do to pass the time. Of course, there was research on the strange tattoo but they could do that later, couldn't they? It seemed like the adrenaline from earlier hadn't completely worn off yet and Ed was itching for something physical to do.

"Al, how about a spar?"  
"But brother, what about the tattoo-"

"Come on, lets go!" Ed was already dressed and at the door.

"How did you-"

"Come ON!"

"We have to cover the tattoo first! Hey, come back!"


	3. Another chapter about flowers

**Disclaimer: I THINK - now this is just a guess - that I don't own FMA/B. Wait NOPE, I don't own it. Sorry for getting your hopes up.**

**a Mysterious Illusion: Very true, I've seen loads of stories that don't update for months.  
Sokkasm: I'll be changing the rating, etc as I go along. So right now its a parody but that could change. (or not)  
SapphireClaw: Glad you find it so~  
Bemony'n'Menisha: Caps lock is awesome! :D**

**Thanks for reviewing everyone!**

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**Back in the hotel, Liore 9:25AM**  
**  
**"Do you have any ideas of how to hide the tattoo?"**  
**  
"No... wait! I just thought of something!"

"Well..?"

"What if I use alchemy to dye it the same colour as my skin? It shouldn't be that hard, should it?"

"So it's basically like wearing makeup."

"WHAT?! No, its like wearing a tattoo on top of a tattoo."

"How about we just put a bandage on it instead?" Al suggested. If the transmutation went wrong his brother could end dying his whole face blue, of course Al didn't want that. Ed looked at Al like he was accusing him of something.

Then the phone rang.

Ed sighed, "It's probably Colonel Bastard, we haven't contacted him in a while."

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**The Colonel's Office, East City 9:26AM**

"ACHOO!" Roy sneezed and sent all of his highly stacked paperwork flying. _'Dammit! I just finished organising these this morning!'_ Roy frowned as he started picking up all the papers.

"Now Hawkeye's going to kill me when she gets back, thinking I did no work at all..."

As he was piling everything up again his eyes caught onto a headline adorning a nearby newspaper.

_SMALLEST PERSON IN AMESTRIS CONTEST! COME ONE, COME ALL..._

"That reminds me," Roy muttered, "I need to call Fullmetal."

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**Gee I don't know where, Liore 9:27AM**

"A visit? Hang on a sec," Ed covered the phone and turned to Al.

"Do you want to see Elicia when we're done? Mrs Huges just called us."

"Okay! It's been ages since we've seen Elicia." Al replied.

Ed turned back to the phone.

"Sure, we'll come. Uh no, why would- no, thanks for asking though, I guess... Really? Wow I had no idea, that's so cool-"

"Brother."

"What, Al? So what kinds of ghosts? Why not-"

"BROTHER!"

"Right, right... Yeah it's Al... okay. Bye."

"Brother... anyone would think that you're talking to your girlfriend on there."

"I DON'T LIKE WINRY!"

"I never said that, brother." However the flustered Ed was already covering the tattoo with a bandage, not meeting Al's eyes.

"Lets just go spar or something."

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**Somewhere in Central, Central 9:41AM**

"Yes, it defiantly was Scar." The new recruit told Danny Brosh. "Why would he give you those then? I thought he was a murderer!"

"I have no idea..." She sounded puzzled as she looked at the bouquet of flowers.

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**Its been three chapters, and nothing has really happened... yet. **

**Chapter 4 will be when the storyline actually starts since these chapters were just... uh, setting everything up! Yeah, that's it!**

**From now on it will take a bit longer to update, since I had these chapters ready. Expect about 3-4 days or maybe less.**


	4. Flower Power!

**Disclaimer: I really do actually own FMA/B. I'm serious. HAH! Did you believe me? Of course I don't. Stop asking me.**

**Truth: I will never stop asking!**

**Sokkasm: ****Thank you for the helpful review! I'll be sure to add more humour like that in the future.**  
a Mysterious Illusion: Bizarre it is and bizarre it shall be... thanks!  
TruthsMessage: It's almost at the end of the storyline, where everybody already knows about the Homunculus but the final battle hasn't started yet ;) Hope this cleared it up for you.  
Infinit-Blue: Well the chapter is here :3 Thanks for reviewing!  
Guest: Al is too overprotective to have a smurf brother. It's a cool bandaid too. (with sparkles! No, not really...)  
Not so human: Thanks so much for pointing that out! Explanation down below~ 

**WHOOPS- I forgot that Ross was supposed to be in Xing at this point in time. Sorry for anyone who connected the dots and got puzzled. I've replaced her with another character that isn't important.**

**I'm glad you guys like the story so far, this chapter probably won't clear up any questions though.**

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It was a bright and sunny morning in Amestris. Ed and Al were sparring, the Colonel was doing paperwork and Scar was giving flowers to passing strangers.

A perfectly normal- wait, Scar?!

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**That place Scar likes to hang out, Central 10:00AM**

"Oh man, I've almost run out of flowers," Scar looked a little dejected, "and I ran out of money to buy more, too..." Then his brow furrowed in confusion.

_'Wait a minute, why am I doing this_ _again? I'm supposed to be killing Amestrians, not giving flowers to them!'_

At that moment Armstrong walked past. He saw Scar with a bouquet of flowers in his hand and a whole pile behind him.

They stared at each other for a moment, then-

"I'M GLAD YOU HAVE CHANGED YOUR WAYS, SCAR!" Scar was subjected to the horror of seeing Armstrong's shirt ripped off. "SUCH INTEGRITY! SUCH KINDNESS!" Armstrong did a pose.

"THIS POSE HAS BEEN PASSED DOWN THE ARMSTRONG FAMILY LINE FOR GENERATIONS! IT IS USED TO CONGRATULATE THOSE WHO ARE ABOUT TO PURSUE MATRIMONY!"

Scar was looking at him with a slightly bewildered face.

_'Matrimony... wait, isn't that-'_

_"_TELL ME, SCAR, WHO IS YOUR (UN)LUCKY FIANCEE?"

"Grrr..." Now that Scar had recovered his wits he was ready to deconstruct something. That 'something' was soon to become this Amestrian Alchemist, Armster, or whatever his name was.

Scar cracked his knuckles, '_His face will be crushed.'_

Armstrong was too busy posing in his sparkles to notice him.

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**Behind the hotel, Liore 10:00AM**

As established two whole chapters before, Ed and Al were sparring.

"So-" Al dodged a punch from his right, "-have any ideas what that-" Ed jumped behind him, "-mark might be?" Al ducked to avoid a kick to his head.

"I have an idea." Ed replied while sidestepping to keep away from Al's punches, "It's very unlikely though-" He pushed Al's body backwards, "-it really needs some-" Ed ducked to avoid Al's elbow, "-some kind of proof."

"What is it?" Al asked as he swept his legs under Ed's feet, Ed jumped back.

"Why are you asking me all the time-" Ed stepped back again, he was about to use his alchemy, "-don't you have your own ideas?" Ed clapped his hands and leapt to the ground.

Only to find that he couldn't feel anything.

There was no crackle of energy between his fingers, no heat occurring from the transmutation and no raw power coming from the ground. Even after applying more force nothing happened. Ed's eyes widened in realisation, _he couldn't use alchemy._

He took a step away from Al.

His back touched the wall of the hotel.

Al hadn't noticed at this point though and prepared for the final blow. His fist was ready to knock Ed to the ground.

Ed was still shocked but just managed to tumble out of the way of Al's punch. However, Al had misjudged his strength and smashed his fist into the wall.

"Hey, Al," Ed remarked, "watch it!" He was a little unnerved that the crumbling wall could've been his face.

"S-sorry, brother," Then Al took a step back, "OW!"

Ed paused, "Al, what's wrong?"

When Al didn't answer Ed became more confused.

"Al? Hey, is the armour rejecting you again?"

'_Diligence.'  
_  
Ed froze as a familiar feeling of dread washed over him. Only this time it wasn't the tattoo, it was much, much worse.

His vision was turning white and he gasped as he realised what was happening.

He could already feel the shadow-like hands swimming through his mind.

The gate was opening once again.

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**Oh, don't worry, good stuff is still coming after this~**

**I'm not experienced with writing fight scenes so sorry if that was a little hard to read ^^''**

**I'll update soon... ahahaha- *cough* *cough***

**Scar, get those flowers out of here!**

**Scar: :3 ?**


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